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Fri 6 Jan, 2006 06:59 pm
What do you make of age recommendations on toys?
Mo got this Lego race car thing that says "ages 6 and up" but I swear if Jeff Probst showed up and offered me a million dollars to put that thing together in an hour or less I'd just laugh.
(Honestly, I try very hard for an hour and then I'd cry.)
And I'm nearly 46.
Meanwhile, he makes mincemeat out of his 6 and up jump rope.
I bought him a little trampoline thing for his birthday and it warns that it is not a toy. You hold the handlebar and bounce on a covered spring thing six inches off the ground. Okay, I get it, not a "toy" in that it would be really hard to lift it over your head, fly it around the room and pretend that it's a heliocopter.
What gives with these age recommendations?
The only one that seems to make sense is the small parts, not for kids under three, choking hazard warnings.
How consistent should I be in the age warning area?
Thank you!
Hey!
I'm thinking up a new TV show called Survivor: Parenthood.
You have to do things like build Lego cars and plan birthday parties to win immunity or risk getting voted out of the play group......
oh boomer It's cause you are over 40, these young people can master that kind of thingy
no problem
Reminds you of Sugar's old sig line, doesn't it.
"A child of 5 could figure this out. Fetch me a child of 5."
roger wrote:Reminds you of Sugar's old sig line, doesn't it.
"A child of 5 could figure this out. Fetch me a child of 5."
That's why I keep my gkids close!!
Anon
Maybe I just need to put it away for another year.
Right now he just demands that I put the thing together and I am confounded.
Oh. whew! I saw the title and thought that you required removal surgery. Glad that is not the case. ;-)
Oh no!!!
Looking at it now I suppose people might think I some kind of pervert!
ACK!
Haha, Intrepid.
Boomerang when my boy was five..six..seven... he had those leggo's together in a heartbeat. But he liked 'em. He couldn't remember the alphabet from one school year to the next, though...
I really think the age guidelines are helpful re: probable levels of manual dexterity etc. but, they are just guidelines....trust your judgement.
(I couldn't do 'em either)
love the thread title..
so, how many ya got up there?
Shewolf, go to your corner.
Really now. The next person who buys Mo a Lego contraption that has parts smaller than my pinky toenail will find my pinky toe and four others in an ... ahem.... uncomfortable place.
I'm convinced that the guy who wrote the Transformers jingle (Transformers - more than meets the eye.) was trying to WARN us NOT to buy those things, not trying to convince anyone to buy them.
Thanks Joeblow. It is nice to know that I'm not all alone out here in the toy wilderness.
you are NOT alone in this age : toy game.. not in the least.
I got a toy for Bean the other day, a talking doll none the less, whos buttons came off because they are velcro ( didnt say that on the box) and Voila.. guess who had these tiny things in her mouth.
Age on the box - 18mos+
now when she gets to lego age.. .. someone save me.
For the little guy, rather than thesmall legos, we got him the super jumbo and adult can't swallow them:) plus the dump truck, school bus, wagon(i think they have the mansion house size too somwhere). He started knocking these over at about 9 mos (that's how my wife and I got him to crawl and walk. She would set up some and he'd knock them over and while he was knocking hers over I would set up mine).
The he found out about electric toys. When we couldn't figure out how to turn a toy on we gave it to him.
Can't wait to see the little rascal again:)
Less that two weeks to go! But back again in two more:(
And I get to see how the little girl is!
Deep thought here:
Talents differ.
Once upon a time before all the damn fool women's lib rhetoric, a Good Woman could simply pass the problem over to the Resident Male Mind.
(Of course she had to put up with the tantrums when the Resident Male Mind couldn't cope, but Motherhood has never been an easy job.
boomerang wrote:Looking at it now I suppose people might think I some kind of pervert!
Versus those of us who know....
Yaya makes a hash of all of those recommendations, so we just worry about small parts.
I heartily recommend Duplo (the large Lego) blocks.
The saddest use of the "age advisory" guidelines on the box are damn fool yuppies who buy too-old toys because Their Offspring are super-smart.
I generally interpret "Ages 2-6" as "Save for 2 and will provide play value through 6".
You ought to write to those people about those buttons, shewolf. That toy sounds dangerous.
I've noticed that many of the toys Mo gets are aged up for his capablitlies. I've never quite figured this out but perhaps people do have that "super kid" attitude about buying toys.
Mo typically finds the box more interesting than the toy -- except for train things. Those get played with every single day. I think the age on them is 3 and up.
I never followed these guidelines for Little Jane, but when
buying presents for other kids, I do look for the age requirements.
boomer, you'll be surprised how quickly things are put
together by kids while parents don't have a clue.
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